On a Euro mission
V Shem-Wee Kiong hope to be world No. 1 after French Open
ODENSE (Denmark): Goh V Shem-Tan Wee Kiong are ready to accomplish another mission in Europe.
The Olympic silver medallists have already achieved one of their goals when they edged Thailand’s Bodin Isara-Nipitphon Phuangphuapet 14-21, 22-20, 21-19 in the 61-minute final to win the Denmark Open on Sunday. It was the Malaysians’ first Superseries title.
Now, they are eyeing the world No. 1 ranking. With their Denmark Open win, world No. 7 V Shem-Wee Kiong are expected to move into the top three in the next world rankings list.
And if they continue with another fine run at this week’s French Open in Paris, they can become the world No. 1 for the first time. V ShemWee Kiong are now ranked No. 1 in the Superseries standings.
V Shem believes they can end their stint in Europe on a high.
“Wee Kiong and I are so happy to finally win our first Superseries title in Denmark. Our long wait has ended,” said a jubilant V Shem.
“The win did not come easy though. We didn’t play well in the beginning against the Thais, but luckily we hung on.
“Next stop is the French Open and there is no time to waste. We have a chance to become the world No. 1 and our challenge is to be consistent in Paris,” added the 27-year-old.
For V Shem-Wee Kiong, the Denmark Open win is just the beginning. They hope to be as successful as world No. 1 Lee Chong Wei, who has won 44 Superseries titles to date.
“We aim to be like Lee Chong Wei and win many more Superseries titles. We don’t want to stop at one. It’s our hope that the Denmark Open will be first of many more to come.”
At the French Open, V Shem-Wee Kiong are seeded fourth. They take on unseeded Kim Astrup-Anders Skaarup Rasmussen of Denmark in the first round tomorrow.
The others in the same half of the draw with V Shem-Wee Kiong are second seeds Mathias BoeCarsten Mogensen of Denmark, fifth seeds Marcus Fernaldi Gideon-Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo of Indonesia and sixth seeds Li Junhui-Liu Yuchen of China.
Top seeds Chai Biao-Hong Wei of China head the other half of the draw. They have Thailand’s Bodin Isara-Nipitphon Phuangphuapet, compatriots Fu Haifeng-Xu Chen and Angga PratamaRicky Karanda Suwardi of Indonesia for company.
Teo Ee Yi-Ong Yew Sin are the other Malaysian pair taking part. It will be their first Superseries appearance.
In the men’s singles, Chong Wei will lead the assault with Iskandar Zulkarnain, Chong Wei Feng and Zulfadli Zulkiffli.
Zulfadli and Wei Feng will play in today’s qualifying rounds.
The other Malaysians in the main draw are Vivian Hoo-Woon Khe Wei (women’s doubles) and Tan Kian Meng-Lai Pei Jing (mixed doubles).